52 Films by Women Vol 10. 23. MY MOTHER'S WEDDING (Director: Kristin Scott Thomas)

 

Pictured: Daughters Georgina (Emily Beecham, left), Victoria (Sienna Miller, 2nd left) and Katy (Scarlett Johansson, right) accompany their mother Diana (Kristin Scott Thomas) in a scene from the comedy-drama, 'My Mother's Wedding', directed by Kristin Scott Thomas from a script she co-wrote with John Micklethwait. Still courtesy of Universal Pictures UK

The English actress Kristin Scott Thomas (born May 1960) had an atypical childhood. Her father, a Royal Navy pilot, died in a flying accident in 1964. Her stepfather, also a Royal Navy pilot, died six years later. This double tragedy inspired her directorial debut, My Mother’s Wedding, which was completed in 2023 but has taken three years to reach UK screens. Originally entitled North Star, it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2024.

Scott Thomas co-wrote the screenplay with John Micklethwait, whom she married the same month of the film’s premiere. She takes the title role of Diana, a woman living in the English countryside who is marrying for a third time, joined by three adult daughters. The eldest, Katherine Frost aka Katy, is played by Scarlett Johannson, who was previously cast as Scott Thomas’ screen daughter in the 1998 romance The Horse Whisperer. Katy has followed in her late father and late stepfather’s footsteps and joined the Royal Navy. At the start of the film, she is a few days away from assuming the command of HMS Prince of Wales, a battleship. Having played a Marvel superhero, Black Widow, the role of a Royal Navy Commander is no stretch for Johannson. Katy’s arrival on board forms the film’s climax. Her sisters, actress Victoria and nurse Georgina are played by Sienna Miller and Emily Beecham respectively. They both give more naturalistic performances.

The film deals with the vexed issue of taking another man’s name. Diana’s fiancé is the widower, Geoff Loveglove (James Fleet with a white beard). Most English surnames don’t feature an internal rhyme so you can understand why Diana’s daughters are upset. Katy has also kept a secret from her sisters. Her stepfather asked him to take his name. Treasuring the memories of mushroom picking with her birth father, Katy refused. We learn later on that the stepfather asked Diana first. She sent him to Katy whom she knew would refuse.

Scott Thomas employs animated flashbacks to show Diana’s late husbands. Their faces are incomplete, as if fading from memory. It is partially effective, dramatically economical but also pulls us out of the film.

Most of the drama features the three sisters arguing, either with one another or their children. Victoria’s latest film, a sequel, has just been released. There is a (wearying) running joke in which her family members get the number wrong, four instead of five. Victoria is being wooed by an older man, nicknamed ‘The Grand Fromage’ (or big cheese, played by Thibault de Montalembert). He arrives for the wedding reception by helicopter, immediately piquing the interest of one of the guests, Belkis (Sindhu Vee), the mother of Katy’s partner, Jack (Freida Pinto). The French gentleman politely asks Diana for her blessing. Diana reminds him they are the same age, implying that perhaps he should seek someone like Geoff, who as we discover, can sing in French.

Pictured: 'Prepare yourselves.' Private detective Steve (Samson Kayo, left) looks for a suitable location to update sisters Katy (Scarlett Johansson), Georgina (Emily Beecham) and Victoria (Sienna Miller) in a scene from the comedy drama, 'My Mother's Wedding', co-written and directed by Kristin Scott Thomas. Still courtesy of Universal Pictures UK

In what is a low stakes comedy drama, the most involving storyline features Georgina, who suspects that her husband Jeremy (Joshua McGuire) is being unfaithful, what with his constant ‘work dinners’. Katy and Victoria hire a private detective, Steve (comic actor Samson Kayo). He has the best line, warning the sisters that viewing the record of unfaithful acts tends to result in violence. This comes to pass. Georgina’s rage leads to Katy, Victoria and Steve’s Tablet computer ending up in the water. Footage shows Jeremy in the kitchen receiving what I can only describe as a rectal probe. Georgina apologises to Steve after he eventually retrieves his tablet. ‘It’s all backed up in the cloud,’ he tells her, as if somehow that is reassuring.

Victoria’s ex, Charlie (Mark Stanley) appears with her son, Skylar (Ziggy Gardner). Jack arrives with Katy’s son, Marcus (Fflyn Edwards). The latter is disappointed that he is spending little time with his mother. By contrast, Skylar takes charge of the other children and gives Marcus a ‘power’ ring from his role-playing game. In the film’s ‘other’ big dramatic set piece, Skylar climbs a tree. Geoff calls the fire brigade. Victoria is furious but Diana, who asks that all her three children accompany her to the cemetery the next day, sees it differently. ‘Your fathers weren’t idols,’ she explains in a speech that is the film’s raison d’êtré. ‘Skylar was doing what you all should do, separate yourselves from your parents.’ This is, perhaps, the lesson that Scott Thomas drew from her childhood, not to miss her father figures too much.

Diana’s ‘hen night’ involves her sharing a drink around the kitchen table with her three daughters. Geoff arrives home drunk from his stag night and ends up in Victoria’s bed. She reveals her breasts to him. ‘Some people pay good money to see that,’ she explains later, a filmic in-joke.

Another subplot involves Jack, who tells Katy that she is expecting a child through artificial insemination. Looking after Marcus while Katy is at sea made her broody. Katy is furious – as furious as Johansson trying to maintain an English accent can be. However, by the end of the film, she welcomes the news.

After Jeremy receives his just desserts, the film climaxes with Katy’s family (including Geoff) attending her arrival on HMS Prince of Wales; Scott Thomas secured the use of an actual ship. The sequence takes the film in a different direction, promoting gender equality. However, My Mother’s Wedding doesn’t do for the Royal Navy what Top Gun did for its US counterpart. For one thing, there is no volleyball, uplifting musical choices, aerial dogfights nor silly call signs. Geoff is a twitcher, which does not count. The film ends with a version of Carly Simon’s ‘Coming Around Again’, which viewers might recognise from being first featured in the 1986 film, Heartburn.

Reviewed at Cineworld Ashford, Kent, Southern England, Saturday 30 May 2026, 15:00 screening